Samajwadi Party suspends 4 MLAs for cross-voting in recent polls

The party suspended four legislators on Monday, and more are likely to face the same fate in the coming days. Three of the MLAs taken to task hailed from western Uttar Pradesh constituencies.

The Samajwadi Party has begun taking action against MLAs suspected of cross-voting in the recently-concluded Vidhan Parishad and Rajya Sabha elections.

The party suspended four legislators on Monday, and more are likely to face the same fate in the coming days. Three of the MLAs taken to task hailed from western Uttar Pradesh constituencies.

Samajwadi Party general secretary (UP) Arvind Singh ‘Gope’ announced that state president Akhilesh Yadav has suspended Nawajish Alam Khan, the MLA from Budhana (Muzaffarnagar); Bhagwan Sharma alias Guddu Pandit, the MLA from Debai (Bulandshahr); Mukesh Sharna, the MLA from Shikarpur (Bulandshahr); and Shyam Prakash, the MLA from Gopamau (Hardoi), for allegedly engaging in anti-party activities and defying instructions given to them in the recent polls.

Biswan MLA Rampal Yadav, who had been expelled from the party a few weeks ago, voted in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party.